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The Environment in English: Vocabulary and Pronunciation
Taught by Tom Wilkinson — Cambridge CELTA
Recorded and taught by a team of British and North American English teachers, based in Oxford (UK) and Barcelona (Spain).
In this episode: Katie, Tom and Hannah talk pollution, extinct species and landfill while you learn fifteen environment words, plus stress patterns and pronunciation.
What you'll hear in this episode
There are two unscripted conversations. In the first, Katie and Tom talk about how we tend to think about pollution first and animals second. Tom mentions conservation groups taking rare cats and orangutans into captivity so they can breed safely, away from loggers; Katie describes a documentary about tigers where the numbers dropped so fast that "we've had a…a devastating effect in a really short period of time". Tom pushes back a little, wondering which changes are "natural fluctuations". Then comes the bit everyone remembers: the dodo, the Tasmanian Tiger, and Katie's alarm — "Oh, don't tell me the Tasmanian Devils are extinct." It ends on some genuinely grim news from the Amazon and Katie's dry "on that cheerful note", followed by Tom: "Let's go and do some conservation."
The second conversation pairs Katie with Hannah, and it's a very useful model of two people explaining technical terms to each other with hedges everywhere. They work out what the ozone layer is, connect emissions to fossil fuels, and Katie explains why biodegradable food waste in a landfill won't actually biodegrade — no oxygen gets to it. Hannah's response: "I didn't know that. But now I do." They finish on organic food and pesticides, and on the fact that organic is "so much more expensive at the moment".
Quick facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Episode | 3.31 – The Environment |
| Pack | Vocabulary and Pronunciation 3 |
| Level | 3 |
| Duration | 18 minutes 45 seconds |
| Speakers | Katie, Tom and Hannah |
| Target language | Fifteen words and phrases about the environment |
| Workbook | Included in the €39 all-in-one pack |
What you'll learn
The teaching sections do two jobs: meaning and pronunciation, one word at a time, with beeps for you to repeat into.
The pronunciation notes are the sort of detail that gets missed in a textbook. In protect, the first syllable is not /prəʊ/ but /prə/ — a weak, almost invisible vowel. In extinct, you have to get all of /e/ /k/ /s/ out before the rest of the word. The -ed ending on endangered is /ʤəd/. The first s in resources is a /z/ sound. The double s in the middle of emissions is /ʃ/. And the -able ending in renewable and biodegradable is /əbəl/ — reduced, never "able".
Beyond the words, this is a good episode for listening to opinions being given cautiously. Count how often the speakers protect themselves: "if I understand it correctly", "which I may not", "I think so", "something like that". English speakers hedge constantly when they're not sure, and copying those phrases lets you join a discussion about a serious topic without having to be an expert on it. You'll also hear disagreement done politely, when Tom questions whether every decline in animal numbers is caused by us.
The fifteen words
- to destroy – to damage something so much that it no longer exists or can never be used again; used of the rainforest in the first conversation.
- to protect – to stop people or things from being hurt or damaged.
- extinct – if an animal is extinct there are none of this animal on the earth.
- endangered species – a group of animals with very few left; if we do not save them they will become extinct.
- conservation – the act of protecting, keeping safe and making safe, animals and land.
- habitat – the place a kind of animal naturally lives.
- captivity – a place animals would not naturally be, that they cannot leave, they are not free.
- pesticide – a chemical put on plants to stop insects eating them.
- waste – whatever is not used and thrown away.
- the ozone layer – something around the earth that keeps it safe from the sun.
- the greenhouse effect – the way the earth is becoming hotter because heat cannot escape.
- resources – things we can use to help us; natural resources are things like gas and oil.
- renewable – if something is renewable, we can make it again or replace it.
- emissions – gases that go into the air.
- biodegradable – something that can go into very small pieces and go back into the earth without causing any problems.
In the workbook
The workbook for Unit 31 gives you the full transcript of both conversations, so you can go back and see the hedging written down, and a glossary with a phonemic transcription for each of the fifteen items.
Then there are three practice sections with answers. Practice 1 is five short comprehension questions that test whether you really understand the words rather than just recognise them — "Can we protect extinct animals?" and "Is oil a source of renewable energy?" among them. Practice 2 is a matching task on word partnerships: waste, renewable, biodegradable, carbon and protect each pair with one of products, energy, bags, emissions and their habitat. Collocations like carbon emissions and biodegradable bags are how these words actually appear in newspapers.
Practice 3 is the pronunciation task: sort twelve words into six stress patterns, from the two-syllable destroy to the six-syllable biodegradable. The answer key is included.
This workbook is part of the Zapp! English all-in-one pack, which covers every episode across the courses for €39.
Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39
Common questions
Is the audio scripted?
The two conversations are completely unscripted — that's why people interrupt, laugh and get the Tasmanian Tiger wrong. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.
Do I need to know anything about the environment to follow it?
No. The speakers openly say their own knowledge is patchy, so everything is explained in ordinary language rather than scientific terms.
What if I can't hear the difference in the stress patterns?
Listen to the model, then say the word while tapping the strong syllable. Practice 3 in the workbook gives you the patterns visually, which helps if your ear isn't sure yet.
Can I use this vocabulary in an exam?
Yes. The environment is a standard exam topic, and words like endangered species, renewable energy and carbon emissions come up constantly in speaking and writing tasks.
Is the workbook free?
The audio is free. This workbook comes as part of the €39 all-in-one pack.
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